Nice bike roads?

Hi All,

We went for a trip up from Nth London to just over the Humber bridge
and back today (3 of us in the car) and there were a good few moments
when we all wished we were on our bikes (but went to collect a boat so
we couldn't).

1) The roads back though Lincoln looked quite nice.

2) The weather was nice (dry and not too hot).

3) Lorries going along at 40 mph on derestricted singles (not their
fault I know but they could pull over (like a tractor did) every 10
miles or so and let the 2 miles of cars trailing behind get on with
their day)?

Oh, one bike chucked up a stone that hit the screen as he swung back
in front of me a bit quicker than he needed (I had slowed and pulled
over to the gutter and nothing was coming in the opposite direction).

All the other bikes we saw out seemed to be behaving themselves. ;-)

T i m

 

If you own a car that can't overtake a 40mph lorry then that's your
lookout.

 

It's not the lorry that's the problem, it's all the cunts like gazz
between you & the lorry who don't leave a gap for people who can
overtake. Sure you can force your way in, but the time that adds rules
out an overtake on many shorter straights, no matter how fast your car
is.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

True, but it's amazing what a difference a proper fast car can make.
Since I got the R36 I've pushed my 'overtaking like a ****' boundaries
far further than I'd have thought possible.

Aspecially on the Alpine hairpin sections

 

It can and did, several times (in spite of being 3 up and with a boat
on the roof) however Krusty points out a more reasoned reason below.

The few mad cunts [1] who did decide to overtake large chunks of the
'procession' often did so at the risk of the rest of us who were
waiting for people to safely overtake in turn (them generally not
having 'performance' cars either).

That and the forcing their way back into the 'queue' (< clue there for
them) when confronted with another lorry they failed to spot coming in
the opposite direction.

And that's why I said it would have been nice to be out on the bikes.
;-)

T i m

[1] Audi, Merc and a Shogun. The funnyest thing of course is coming up
behind said **** at the roundabout some 10 miles up the road.

 

How is it at the "risk of the rest of us", unless - of course - those
"the rest of us" don't bother using the mirror before pulling out? Does
it make a difference that it's a Shogun coming past the line instead of,
say, a bike?

 

It certainly increases the opportunities on the straights (& I'm
thinking of my Porker here, which was proper, proper fast), but the
flip side is on a typical twisty, hedge-lined British road, I reckon I
have more overtaking opportunities in the Jeep, simply because I can
see over the hedges.

In fact my fastest ever time from Aylesbury to my parents' place in mid
Wales was done in a Transit for precisely this reason. Other cars I did
the same journey in included a 1602 with tweaked 3.0l V6 Ford engine,
2.0l Alfetta, Lotus Europa twinky, Hartge 323i & a Saab 900 Turbo. So
not wildly fast cars, but not slouches either, & certainly way faster
than a Tranny.

Shut up, you're making me jealous.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

Quite right, and when the 'queue' is *only* doing 40 mph people do
bunch up because compared with the 60 most of us were doing until we
came to the lorry it feels like you have stopped.

Although many of these roads had fairly long straight sections they
also had side roads with farm vehicles coming in and out, dips and
humps and with cars and bikes coming out from under trees from the
opposite direction at ~ 60 mph, what looks like a decent gap (for real
everyday cars) can suddenly get quite tight.

Ironically, considering the weather and roads etc, we hardly had 3
bikes overtake the whole trip.

T i m

p.s. AFWIW, *we* only had a few cars overtake us and most of those I
invited to pass because they obviously were looking to travel faster
than the speed limit (we were generally around the limit as we were
fairly well loaded (the car not me)). ;-)

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Krusty

Which is OK until you meet the Lotus 7 coming the other way. ;^)

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

I have already made the greatest contribution to the fight against climate
change that I can make: I have decided not to breed. Now quit bugging me and
go and talk to the Catholics.

 

So if the car at the front of the queue has no intention of overtaking
said lorry, you think everyone else should just sit dutifully behind?
What about if the third in the queue has no intention of overtaking? Or
the fifth? Or if you're on a bike?

Or to put it another way, you're talking bollocks.

Ah, so it is ok for bikes to queue jump then?


--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

If I can't hear them coming, they're not trying hard enough & deserve
to be squashed.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

I accept this as a concept if you're following a tractor, say, where a
small gap in oncoming traffic will suffice even the most nervous of
drivers. But at 40 mph some people will never overtake, others will
not overtake if they can see an oncoming car however distant it is.
"Waiting to overtake in turn" doesn't work, so if you've a fast car
you work your way down the queue.

 

Yeh, it's only when there's a car about to overtake him that he pulls out
on them without seeing them.

 

The A15 is a case in point. I think it's part of Ermine Street and
looks like easy overtaking on the map. However, all the concealed dips
and entrances make it a right bugger.

 

I just force my way in

I don't really get this. Why does overtaking a procession of a dozen
or so cars in 3 or 4 bites add any time?

 

I actually cringed yesterday as a couple of bikers came the other way
at speed (not particularly excessive for the general road conditions
etc) and as thy went past us we went past an opening (their side) to
a field where a tractor was waiting to pull out. It had a pair of 6'
long forklift type forks sticking out the front and the tips were
just level with the kerb and 2' off the ground.

I could see the driver was straining to see far enough up and down the
road and against the sun in one direction to pick a moment to pull out
and the quiver was the though of what could have happened if it had
not all gone to plan.

Some of this farm machinery is the heart of a good nightmare. ;-(

T i m

 

Because if they hit something pulling out of a side road [1] or
something coming faster than they expected in the opposite direction
we could all suffer the consequences.

Yes, because there is a greater chance the bike can get through any
remaining gap than 2 tonne of pigiron.

[1] I know people "shouldn't pull out unless it's clear" but people
make mistakes and especially might be forgiven for not expecting a car
to be doing 60+ mph on the wrong side of the road.

 

Ah. So it doesn't matter whether the vehicle overtaking is the first in
line or the fourth.

Well, I wasn't specifically thinking of Harleys, but...

Even when they're pulling out to do exactly that themselves? Tut, tut. A
remarkable lack of empathy, don't you think?

Anyway - even if it does happen, whose fault would it be? Not, I suggest,
the person overtaking "out of turn".

 

In general, the overtaking vehicle is held to be responsible, so in
fact the one at the rear would be expected to avoid hitting the back
end of the one pulling out without looking.

In practice, both would be held partially to blame, I imagine.

 

Yes - and no.

If somebody's in the middle of overtaking a few vehicles, and one pulls
out into their path, I'd suggest that that was the greater offence - not
a lot different to filtering, eh?

Sure. As with filtering.